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No fans of GoT here.
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The coastline overlooking the Bay of Biscay in Spain is
spectacular. One of my MaryJane
highlights was visiting Gaztelugatxe, famous for being the real location of Dragonstone
in Game of Thrones. We’re not traveling far from Balboa, but the winding roads and
hills are slow going in our tiny hybrid Fiat. Thank goodness, we can both drive
a stick.
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| Gaztelugatxe or Dragonstone |
We’ve been running for over 2 weeks. Tourist stigmata
running. Poor Pick, the last day in Spain I was bed bound. So very tired was I,
that we decided we needed a vaca during vaca. On our way toward San Sebastian
and France, a random town on the Bay of Biscay was picked for no other reason
that it was small and therefor nothing to do except to eat and read and lounge
while we waited on the laundry to dry.
The ride to Ondarroa, our seaside vacation home, will take 4
hours or so. While there was some Basque used in Balboa, we are now venturing
deep into traditional Basque territory where it is spoken by most of the
population. Suddenly, Spanish is not the dominate language; spoken or written.
If you have never read about the Basque language and its uniqueness, then do so
right now! It may as well be Russian or Chinese so foreign it is, there is
nothing it can be compared to, like we can do with Romantic. Think Klingon. If
one can pass the Basque Language test, you get immediate citizenship to Spain.
Cool.
We got a huge laugh at the township of Mendialde, close to
our destination at the roundabout, outside of town to heading towards Gaztelugatxe.
I made The Monkey turn around and park while I got the photo. I guess the film
crew has not endeared themselves to the locals.
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| Ondarroa |
Continuing our meandering around hairpin turns thru forest
and cliffside dodging bikers and hikers (remember, the road follows the path of
the Camino of St James), we finally reach the small, tiny town of Ondarroa. An
entirely Basque town and the most vertical town we had visited thus far. We
were noticed as strangers right away. People spoke to us first in Basque, then
we stumbled thru Spanish. One could walk from one side of town to the beach in
about 10 minutes. There were only 1.5 streets that had services and restaurants.
Only 3 long streets in the entire town. Luckily, we were next to a grocer and
found brilliant parking.
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| 8330 residents |
It rains a lot in this part of the world and we were
expecting a long, soggy weekend. Perfect for the downtime I craved. Saturday
dawned dark, rainy and windy. Still, provisions were needed for us to hide
several days comfortably and so we risked leaving our Airbnb the next morning in the pouring rain
to gather supplies.
What the hell? We go out and the streets are packed. Not
just packed - packed with locals dressed in medieval clothing. Rain was not detouring
these townies whatsoever. Large blue tarps, reminiscent of Florida roofs after
a hurricane, were being stretched across the narrow main drag. What’s a little
rain when there is drinking to do? We had arrived during the once-a-year
celebration of the birthday of Ondarroa. Established in 1400’s. The town was
dressed and ready to party. Even the kids. All the men had some sort of fake
sword with them, whether made of paper Mache or carved from wood. There were
knights, ladies, wenches’ jesters, priests, fishermen in every direction. Special mead had been made especially for this
day. It was a fun and very wet scene. So much for staying in and resting.
Ondorroa was a special needs town, we came to understand. There
were multiple elevators throughout town, to access the upper roads. So many
wheelchair lifts. The beachfront had special lifeguards and water wheelchairs
and hoyer lifts, so that anyone despite their ability could enjoy the ocean.
